Each year, Rhizome.org awards commissioning grants - eight are chosen by a curatorial panel, and two are chosen by rhizome's members. This year, my proposal for Prairie, a full-scale version of the work started with Motion Studies Prairie (documented in the artworks section of this site) was chosen by the members of Rhizome to receive one of these awards! You can see the proposal on rhizome.org - as well as a future interview there as well. Also, of

Jan-Erik Andersson and I have been working on the Sounding Dome Sauna for for two years now, and it just opened to the public on June 1, 2011! This project is one of several artist-designed and constructed saunas that are part of the SaunaLab project, one of the many projects that make up the City of Turku Finland's European Cultural Capital 2011 activities.

This weekend, April 29, and 30th, 2011, I am presenting two scores for dance works by Mordine and Company Dance Theater for their NEXT 2011 concert. Lifespeak (2011), a new work, will be premiered at this concert. I will be performing the entire 25' score live from the stage. Also shown will be Illuminations (2009) which is a major work from 2 years ago for which I also created the music (based on a section of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians). Both works were choreographed by Mordine & Co. Artistic Director Shirley Mordine, and both pieces will feature lighting and visual design by my good friend John Boesche.

If you are in Chicago for ART CHICAGO (at the merchandise Mart, April 28-31), stop by to check out the panel discussion I will be participating in. This event is part of the Talk Shop series, and is free of charge (once you have paid to get into Art Chicago). The event is sponsored by the International Sculpture Society, and was organized by Chicago art critic Polly Ulrich. The talk is from 4:30-5:30, Saturday April 30. Here is the description:

I am busy this week installing a new site-specific installation at the wonderful Ragdale House, designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw, In Lake Forest, Illinois. Come up and explore all the wonderful art being installed as part of this show, then maybe take a walk on the fabulous restored prairie and the incredlible gardens on the grounds! Here is the Press Release with the details :

Motion Studies (Prairie) had a great run at ESS's Audible gallery - now it is done, and the documentation will be here on line very soon - followed hopefully soon by a full-scale version of the piece. In the mean time, read the review of the show in Time Out Chicago.

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about the artist

Shawn Decker is a composer, artist, and teacher who creates sound and electronic media installations and writes music for live performance, film, and video. His work is positioned at the intersection of music composition, the visual arts, and performance, using physical and electronic media to investigate, simulate and praise the natural (and unnatural) worlds.